Means for dogging a panic exit bar in a latch-retracted position



March 26, 1968 s. R. WEIDMAN 3,374,649

MEANS FOR DOGGING A PANIC EXIT BAR IN A LATCH-RETRACTED POSITION Filed Aug. 26, 1966 l/WEN TOR /8 @eia man Hood, Gmiil lilh United States Patent 3,374,649 MEANS FOR DOGGING A PANIC EXIT BAR IN A LATCH-RETRACTED POSITION Stanley R. Weidman, Indianapolis, Ind., assigno'r to Von Duprin Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Aug. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 575,288 11 Claims. (Cl. 70-92) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dogging means for retaining the latch-actuating lever of a panic exit device in latch-retracted position, comprising a wedge means spring-biased to lever-blocking position, cam follower means operatively connected to move With said wedge means, and cam means cooperative with said cam follower means to move and hold said Wedge means affirmatively out of such lever-blocking position. In its preferred form, said cam means is actuatable only through a key-operated lock mechanism disposed on an axis substantially parallel with the pivotal axis of the latch-actuating lever.

The present invention relates generally to panic exit devices and more particularly to means for dogging a panic exit bar in a latch-retracted position. A panic exit device, by definition, must be able to open an outwardlyopening door merely by moving a panic bar toward'the inside surface of such a door. Thus, a panic exit device is a safety feature which permits opening of such doors at all times from inside a building having such doors.

Usually, the panic bars are supported from one or more levers and traverse the inside surface of the outwardly-opening doors. The levers are operatively connected to latch means carried by the door in such a fashion that, when the panic bar is moved toward the inside surface of the door, the levers are moved from a latchprojected position to a latch-retracted position to disengage the latch means from its associated keeper means to permit the door to open freely. conventionally, such devices are spring-biased toward the latch-projected position so that, whenever the door is closed, the latch means will be resiliently held in projected relation to its associated keeper means.

It is frequently desirable, such as during daytime hours in a school building, to arrange such doors so that they may be freely opened from the outside. Thus, it is necessary to provide means for dogging the panic exit device in latch-retracted position. To date, a dogging screw, threadedly seated in the lever case, has been used to provide means for clogging the lever in a latch-retracted position. In some cases the dogging screw, which is manipulable from outside the case and capable of being advanced by such manipulation, moves a dogging means into engagement with the levers. In other cases, the inner end of the dogging screw engages the inner arm of the lever to hold it in the latch-retracted position.

In practice it has been found that mischievous and unauthorized persons have manipulated the aforementioned dogging screws to prevent opening of the doors from the outside. The object of the present invention is to prevent such an occurrence. Specifically, the present invention provides a means for dogging a panic exit device in a latch-retracted position and which can only be operated only by a cylinder lock operatively associated with the device.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a key-controlled means, such as a cylinder lockoperated device, for dogging a panic exit device in a latchretracted position.

To the accomplishment ofthe above and related.

3,3 74,649 Patented Mar. 26, 1968 objects, the present invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawing, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawing is illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the device of the present invention installed on a typical panic exit device;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken from FIG. 1 generally along the line 22 and illustrating the cooperation among the various elements of the device of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken from FIG. 1 generally along the line 33 and illustrating a wedge means positioned so as to dog a lever means in a predetermined position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an integrally formed member including the aforementioned wedge means and a cam follower means.

Generally speaking, the present invention is a means for dogging a panic exit device in a latch-retracted position. The panic exit device is of the type having a casing providing a trunnion means and lever means pivotally supported on the trunnion means for oscillation between a latch-projected position and latch-retracted position. The dogging means comprises cam means journaled in the aforementioned casing and a cylinder lock mounted in an opening in the casing and extending inwardly toward the cam means. The cylinder lock is arranged to receive a key in its outer portion and to operate the aforementioned cam means with its inner portion. There is a cam follower means cooperatively associated with the cam means and supported for movement in the casing. Resilient means, such as a spring, is provided for urging the cam follower means against the cam means. A wedge means is carried by the cam follower means and arranged to cooperate with a finger portion of the aforementioned lever means to dog the lever means in the latch-retracted position when the cam means is at its point of maximum travel in one direction.

Referring now to the drawing, an illustrative embodiment of the present invention can be visualized in conjunction with the following description.

A casing, indicated by the reference number 10, for pivotallysupporting one of the panic levers of a panic exit device is shown clearly in FIG. 1. The casing 10 is fastened to the interior surface of a door 11 by means of screws 12. The forward surface of the casing 10 is provided with a protuberance, indicated generally by the reference number 13, having a pair of spaced apart ears 14 with an opening 15 extending horizontally through a central portion of the cars. A trunnion means 16 is disposed in the opening 15 to extend through a slot 17 opening from between the ears 14 into the casing 10. A panic lever 18 is pivotally supported on the trunnion means 16 for oscillation between a latch-retracted position and a latch-projected position. The panic lever 18 has a horizontally extending portion 19 which is connected to a panic bar 20.

In FIG. 3, it can be seen that the panic lever 18 has a finger portion 21 extending through the slot 17 into the interior of the casing 10, said finger being provided with an extension 21' which is fragmentarily shown in FIG. 3 and which is proportioned and arranged for co-active engagement with latch-retractor means (not shown), in accordance with conventional practice. It can also beseen in FIG. 3 that motion of the panic lever 18 toward the door 11 in the direction of the arrow 22 is limited by the upper portion 23 ofthe finger portion 21 which strikes 3 a top wall 24 of the slot 17. Outward movement of the panic bar 18 away from the door 11 is limited either by the bottom portion 25 of the finger means 21 striking a bottom wall 26 of the slot 17 or by said bottom portion of the finger means striking a wedge means 27. That is, if the wedge means 27 is moved in the direction of the arrow 28 to the position represented by the dashed outline form 27 the bottom portion 25 can strike the wall 26. The two positions shown for the wedge means 27 in FIG. 3 represent the travel or stroke of the wedge means. The position indicated by the dashed, outline form 27 represents the maximum travel of the wedge means in the disengaged position. The illustrated blocking position of the wedge means 27 represents approximately 80% of the engaging travel of the wedge means. The 20% overtravel is to accommodate normal wear, surface irregularities, manufacturing tolerances, etc. When the wedge means 27 is at one end of its stroke, the panic lever 18 is dogged in the latch-retracted position and when the wedge means 27 is at the opposite end of its stroke, the panic lever 18 can move to its latch-projected position. Thus, when the upper portion 23 of the finger portion 21 is against the wall 24, the panic lever 18 is in its latch-retracted position and when the lower portion 25 of the finger portion 21 is against the bottom wall 26, the panic exit lever 18 is in its latch-projected position.

The lower portion 25 of the finger portion 21 and the bottom wall 26 are arranged to receive the wedge means 27 therebetween when the panic lever 18 is in its latchretracted position. A resilient means, hereinafter referred to as spring means 29, shown clearly in FIG. 2, is provided for urging the wedge means 27 in a direction opposite to the arrow 28. Thus, if the panic lever 18 is shaken or rocked about the trunnion means 16, it cannot act to shift the wedge means toward the broken-line position of FIG. 3 since the wedge means 27 is continuously urged by the spring means '29 to securely dog the panic lever 18 in its latch-retracted position.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it can be seen that a second casing 30 is mounted to a side wall 31 of the casing 10 by means of the screws 32. The casing 30 is arranged to receive a cylinder lock 33 of common type in an opening 34 therein. The outer portion of the cylinder lock 33 is arranged to receive a key and the innermost portion of the cylinder lock 33 is arranged to rotate a cam means 35, which is shown clearly in FIG. 2. It can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 that the cam means 35 is journaled in the casing 10 about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the trunnion means 16 of the cylinder lock 33. The cam means 35 is provided with an opening 36 for receiving a tang 37 extending inwardly from the cylinder lock 33. The opening 36 is provided with a pair of oppositely disposed and radially inwardly extending stops 38 and 39 which cooperate with the tang 37 to turn the cam means 35. Thus, when the tang 37 is turned in the direction of the arrow 40 by the cylinder lock 33, the tang 37 will engage the stops 38 and 39 to turn the cam means 35 in the direction of the arrow 40. The tang 37 and the opening 36 in the cam means 35 comprise a means for connecting the cam means 35 to the cylinder lock 33 so that the cylinder lock can be turned in one direction to position the cam means 35 and then may be returned to its neutral or starting position without changing the position of the cam means 35. The conventional cylinder lock must be so returned to permit removal of the key. The lock and tang may be turned in the opposite direction from the neutral position to return the cam means 35 to its illustrated Position.

In FIG. 2, it can be seen that movement of the cam means 35 in the direction of the arrow 40 will move a cam follower means 41 in the direction of the arrow 42 and against the spring means 29. The spring means 29 is received in an opening 43 in the cam follower means 41 and is arranged to push against a back wall 44 of the casing 30.

ment is reciprocably movable in a guide means, indicated generally by the reference number 45, which is rigidly fastened to the casing 30 by means of screws 46. The track, indicated by the reference number 47, of the guide means 45 can be seen in FIG. 2.

The wedge means 27 is carried by the cam follower means 41. Thus, movement of the cam follower means 41 by the cam means 35 results in movement of the wedge means 27. When the cam means 35 is at its maximum point of travel in a first direction, as shown in FIG. 2, the

wedge means 27 is in a blocking position to dog the panic lever 18 in its latch-retracted position. When the cam means 35 is turned in the direction of the arrow 40 to its point of maximum travel in the opposite direction, the wedge means 27 is moved to the position indicated by the reference number 27' to permit the panic lever 18 to operate freely between the latch-retracted position and the latch-projected position.

In FIG. 4, it can be seen that, in the illustrative embodiment, the wedge means 27 and cam follower means 41 are portions of an integrally formed member, indicated generally by the reference number 48. The reduced portion 49 of the integrally formed member 48 is received between the track means 47 of the guide means 45. The portion 50 of the member 48 and the portion 51 extending perpendicularly therefrom are merely means for connecting the wedge means 27 to the cam follower means 41.

In FIG. 2, it can be seen that countersunk openings is provided with a wedge angle of approximately 15". It has been found that such a wedge angle will prevent movement of the wedge means 27 in opposition to the spring means 29 by forces applied normally to the wedging surfaces thereof by the finger portion 21.

In FIG. 2, it can be seen that countersunk openings 52 are provided for receiving the screws 32 which mount the second casing 30 to the casing 10.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for dogging a panic exit device in a latchretracted position, said panic exit device being of the type having a casing providing a trunnion means and lever means pivotally supported on said trunnion means for oscillation between latch-projected position and said latchretracted position, said dogging means comprising cam means journaled in said casing upon an axis substantially parallel with the axis of said trunnion means, a cylinder lock mounted, coaxially with said cam means, in an opening in said casing and extending inwardly toward said cam means, said cylinder lock having its outer portion arranged to receive a key and its inner portion arranged to operate said cam means, cam follower means cooperatively associated with said cam means, said cam follower means being supported for movement in said casing, spring means for urging said cam follower means against said cam means, wedge means carried by said cam follower means, said wedge means being arranged to cooperate with a finger portion of said lever means to dog said lever means in said latch-retracted position when said cam means is at its point of. maximum travel in one direction.

2. A dogging means as in claim 1 wherein said cam follower means and said wedge means are supported for reciprocable movement in said casing and said wedge means is arranged to move between said finger portion and a wall of said casing to thereby dog said lever means in said latch-retracted position when said cam follower means and said wedge means are at one end of their stroke.

. 3. A dogging means as in claim 2 wherein said cam means and cam follower means are arranged so that said cam follower means is moved in opposition to said spring means to move said wedge means from between said finger portion and said wall.

4. A dogging means as in claim 1 wherein said cam follower means and said wedge means are portions of an integrally formed member.

5. A dogging means as in claim 1 wherein said cylinder lock means has an inwardly and axially extending tang portion protruding through an opening in said cam means, said opening being provided with a pair of oppositely disposed and radially inwardly extending stops disposed for engagement by said tang to establish a driving connection between said tang and said cam means.

6. Means for dogging a panic exit device in latch-retracted position, said panic exit device being of the type having a casing providing a trunnion means and a lever means pivotally supported in said trunnion means for oscillation between latch-projected position and said latch retracted position, said dogging means comprising cam means journaled in said casing on an axis substantially parallel to said trunnion means, a cylinder lock mounted in an opening in said casing and extending inwardly along an axis substantially coaxial with said first mentioned axis, said cylinder lock having its outer portion arranged to receive a key and its inner portion arranged to operate said cam means, cam follower means cooperatively associated with said cam means, said cam follower means being arranged to reciprocate in a guide means, said guide means being mounted in said casing, spring means arranged to urge said cam follower means against said cam means, a wedge means carried by said cam follower means, said wedge means being arranged to cooperate with a finger portion of said lever means to dog said lever means in said latch-retracted position when said cam follower means is at one end of its stroke.

7. A dogging means as in claim 6 wherein said cam follower means is moved in opposition to said spring means to move said wedge means out of position for dogging said lever means.

8. A dogging means as in claim 6 wherein said wedge means is arranged to move between said finger portion of said lever means and a wall of said casing to dog said lever means in said latch-retracted position.

9. A dogging means as in claim 8 wherein said wedge means is urged by said spring means into position between said finger portion and said wall and wherein said wedge means is provided with a wedge angle which will prevent movement in opposition to said spring means when force is applied normal to the wedge surface thereof by said finger means.

10. A dogging means as in claim 9 wherein said spring means urges said wedge means farther between said finger means and said wall when said lever means is oscillated while said cam follower means is at said one end of its stroke.

11. A dogging means as in claim 6 wherein said lever means is free to oscillate between said latch-retracted position and said latch-projected position when said cam follower means is at the opposite end of its stroke.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,867,606 7/ 1932 Van Sickles 70-92 2,350,092 5/ 1944 Book 7092 3,334,934 8/1967 Sander 292-216 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner. R. L. WOLFE, Assistant Examiner. 

